"I'll talk to you later. It's getting late so go to sleep." Jake spoke at the screen in front of him.
"Hmmph, fine, take care, Jake." A young girl waved her hand at him.
"Bye Sera." Jake spoke as Seraphina ended the call.
Ever since he left Serenitia, Seraphina would call him every other day, he had gotten used to it by now and found out they both had similar interests as well which made conversations easier.
"Are we there yet Atlas." Jake spoke out loud as he was alone.
(Two Systems away before we reach the station. No signs of dangerous activity on official and unofficial channels.)
"That's good, last thing we need on my first mission is complications." Jake spoke in relief as he looked at the target system's information.
"If that's it, I'm going to nap for a bit, wake me up when we reach or something happens." Jake spoke as he reclined the pilot's seat and shut his eyes.
A few hours later:
(Jake, we've arrived.) The Atlas woke Jake.
Jake opened his eyes as he took a look in front of him before stretching a bit.
Jake looked at the control panels making sure everything was fine before sitting upright.
(10 minutes till we reach the station, Jake.)
"Good, judging by the scans, there are quite a few Helium 3 deposits in this system. I'm surprised the GOE only set up one station so far?" Jake was surprised at the lack of build-up of a potential energy resource deposit by the GOE.
(If the GOE is putting this on the back burner I would say they have a lot of projects already in progress, my biggest guess would be military build-up.)
"You mean the Kreedian exercise a few years ago?"
(Yes, most likely the biggest issue would either be the size of individual ships or perhaps even fleet size.)
"Are you sure, the schematics we've looked at show us not lagging in terms of space warfare, our weapons are some of the best too."
(Of the knowledge that I have and what I've learned alongside you, there are perhaps some races with extremely large fleet sizes. The GOe barely know much beyond our borders as our only legitimate source would be the Kreedians, who under obligations set by the Inter-Galactic Council, are not allowed to reveal any sensitive information to the Human race.)
"So you think they may have hinted that during the exercise so they weren't directly breaking the agreement?" Jake spoke to the Atlas.
(Yes, according to reports, we've stopped expanding our North-Western Borders as we might be getting close to another civilisation.)
"I'm surprised we haven't reached any civilisations with the way we've been expanding." Jake spoke, surprised that they finally reached close enough to an alien civilization.
(You would be surprised by how large the Galaxy is Jake. I have a simplified copy of the galaxy in my memory, however, it is dated and not as useful for modern-day charting, however, it is perhaps a thousand times more detailed than any maps the GOE or similar civilizations possess.)
"So we could potentially tell where certain empires are technically." Jake asked.
(Not exactly, most of the empires although populated most of the galaxy were still distant from each other, no matter how fast they expanded.
According to my information, most of the empires died out, stagnating after hundreds of thousands of years, then inevitably collapsing, leaving some of their planets in the dark, some even regressing to pre-spacefaring states.
Most of the new empires founded are from those colonies that survived their previous civilization's collapse and formed a new one entirely.
However there are a few that have survived, one of them I believe is perhaps heading the Inter-Galactic Council while a few others have chosen to concentrate on sustaining their race, closing their borders and excluding themselves from outside contact.
The oldest is perhaps the Zephyrions, their solar storms and debris belts had already made communications and trade extremely difficult and when they closed their borders no one cared, some maps even removed them entirely counting the unsailable routes as deep space, an area outside of the galaxy.)
As The Atlas informed Jake of a few other things, a transmission arrived, which Jake promptly answered.
"Unidentified Vessel, this is Celis station, please respond, I repeat, unidentified Vessel, this is Celis station, identify yourself." The transmission played.
"Celis Station, this is Captain Avalon of the Celestial Mariner under the DTG and am requesting permission to dock." Jake responded to the station.
"Understood Celestial Mariner, please wait a moment."
A minute later a transmission arrived.
"Docking request granted. Celestial Mariner, you are clear to dock at landing station B3. Celis Station Over and Out."
"Okay, I take back what I said." Jake spoke as he gazed upon the space station orbiting a yellow gas giant.
The station, which was in the shape of a hedra sphere, and the opening in the centre of the flat faces of the station allowed ships to enter and exit. Two floating rings were connected from the bottom and top of the station, its source and storage of energy most likely.
"It's huge Atlas." Jake remarked.
The station was almost triple the size of any station he had seen thus far.
(It is an advanced design, most likely the extraction equipment is already housed in the station, the only things remaining would be clearance from the GOE and a permanent military presence to start operations.)
"So your theory is right then, the GOE is expanding and can't spare ships yet."
(Yes, but the problem should be solved soon enough, judging by the size of the station and personnel capacity. I would say it's consuming an enormous amount of resources. We got lucky getting this contract from Cohen.)
"You're saying we've got our hands on a regular?"
(Yes.)
"Nice!" Jake exclaimed, short distance, good pay and safe location.
(We won't be able to hold it for long though, 12 months maximum before GOE takes over the supply issue.)
"Then we better do as many runs as we can."
Jake navigated his ship through the entrance and safely landed at his allocated landing pad.
The station was massive and Jake could barely even see the end of the sphere.
In essence, each face of the hedra sphere housed a flat pentagonal-shaped section, which consisted of landing pads, inner stations, storage, housing and a commercial zone.
Of course, normal citizens were not allowed to most areas but since the station had not been up and running and Jake held a contract with the GOE he was given an access card to freely roam the interior station.
Jake walked to the cargo hold and lowered the ramp. Two men in Naval uniform walked forward, one carrying a holographic clipboard.
The naval uniform of the GOE consisted of a Cobalt Blue colour, with a metallic gold emblem representing the GOE on the chest.
The Navy retained traditions from pre ftl times with the epaulettes, collars and cuffs represented by either gold or silver denoting rank. Insignias represented by metallic bars were present on the sleeves of the uniform corresponding to the officer's rank.
The one thing that always caught Jake's eye was the fabric used by the Navy, it was sleek and durable and had a subtle sheen which when the Navy formed almost 4 centuries ago had given people hope and pride for the future of Humanity.
The first man in his late 40s, who looked to be of higher rank greeted Jake and shook his hand "Station Commander Marcus Harrington and this is Logistics Officer Paul Hartwell." The man introduced himself before Jake responded.
"Jake Avalon, I assume the station has requested food and medicine?" Jake asked.
"Yes, I hope you did not face any trouble on your way here?" Marcus asked.
"Not at all, it's a pleasure to serve the Government." Jake smiled and spoke.
Marcus smiled before leading Jake out as Paul stayed behind.
"Thank you, Jake, if you don't mind, Paul will check on the goods before they're unloaded and then your funds will be released. If you want we have a lounge for visitors where you can relax for the time being. It might take some time to unload the cargo" Marcus spoke to Jake as they walked forward.
"I understand, then I will accept your offer station commander." Jake accepted Marcus' offer as he was led into a large building which appeared to be the landing control tower.
Jake was taken to a large room with glassed walls and many sofas.
Jake sat on one near the windows as he looked at the view.
The door opened a few minutes later with Marcus and another worker bringing in refreshments and snacks.
Marcus sat opposite Jake as the worker left the snacks on the nearby table.
"You're the kid that passed the IS exam right?" Marcus asked with curiosity.
'Damn, they found out quick.'
(Not that many twelve-year-olds with DTG trade licenses are there?)